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We receive hundreds of sample tracks every month, and I try to listen to all of them. Every once in a while there is an artist whose talent jumps out at me immediately. This was the case with Julia Weldon, whose recorded music is so impressive that we took a mid-week trip all the way out to Rock Shop just to be able to catch her live. There’s a great moment on this recording where a guy who wandered into the back room of Rock Shop mid-set spontaneously can be heard to say “she’s great” near the end of “Marian” streaming below. Julia is that kind of performer — whose talent is so obvious that a perfect stranger, likely in the venue to see another act, is compelled blurt out a superlative to no one in particular. Her set included some older numbers, but concentrated on her soon to be released new album, Light Is A Ghost. We are confident that with the new material and a consistent performing schedule, Julia will soon be playing in larger venues to much larger crowds, and eventually touring behind a prominent indie-label release. Such things are pretty easy to predict.

Julia Weldon will be playing at Knitting Factory on July 19, in a release show for a her new CD.

We recorded this set with the large diaphragm Neumann TLM-102 cards, which seemed to work well in this small room. Other than some non-optimal aspects of the mix, we’re pleased with the result. Enjoy!

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Among my favorite albums from this spring is Hallelujah the Hills’ most recent release No One Knows What Happens Next and I was delighted to see they were making a stop at Brooklyn’s Rock Shop on their current tour. It’s hard to pinpoint the Hills’ sound, which ranges from easy-going, sophisticated folk to a powerful rock groove. The far reaches of their musicianship has made their recent release one of my favorite albums to listen to, particularly on the walk to work while I prepare for the day ahead, so I was really looking forward to this Saturday night performance at a great Brooklyn venue.

For fifty minutes, the band filled the small stage and played a balanced set of songs between their new album and the 2007 album Collective Psychosis Begone. Leading with their self-titled song, they quickly featured group vocals and revisited this theme on a personal favorite “The Crux of the Cameraman”. Obviously, the talents of band members Brian Rutledge on horns and David Bentley on cello are a highlight and make a delicate song like “Care to Collapse” or “Hungry Ghost Extraordinaire” among the most memorable and recognizable songs, both from the album and live. The band, along with the soothing vocals of singer Ryan Walsh, certainly made the most of the venue’s intimate settings and left me with that same great feeling I get on my morning walk.

I recorded the band using a pair of Schoeps MK 5 Cardioid microphones from the audience and a soundboard feed from the house engineer to wish I’d like to send a special thanks. This was his last night, as mentioned by the band in the recording, and we wish him all the best. Rock Shop has always been a terrific venue for us because it always sounds so good. Enjoy the recording!

Stream “Hallelujah the Hills”

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Stream “Hungry Ghost Extraordinaire”

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Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

We recorded The Spinto Band last month who are fresh off the May 1 release of their self-produced album Shy Pursuit. This was the last night of a four night residency for the Delaware band and they showed a remarkable range of sounds including heavy guitar solos, steady synthesizers, and an army of kazoos. For fifty minutes the band played a great set of infectious indie-folk with most of the songs coming from their new album Shy Pursuit and from 2005’s Nice and Nicely Done.

The band choose an excellent venue in Rock Shop, one of Brooklyn’s absolute best sounding venues, and I was lucky enough to get to record this show using a pair of Schoeps cardioid microphones and a soundboard feed graciously provided by the house engineer. I had a bit of an issue with my preamp and the audience recording, but the final mix turned out to a be a very nice capture of the final night of their residency. We hope you enjoy!

Stream “The Living Things”

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Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

In the two years since we last checked in with Larkin Grimm, much has happened in her life. When we recorded her at Knitting Factory in December of 2009, Larkin had a set of excellent new songs and a new album was expected soon. But Larkin received a wonderful gift in the interim — a baby boy. She also parted ways with Young God Records in a split that does not seem to be completely amicable. But in a fashion consistent with her incredible life story, Larkin persevered. This week her new album is out, and the self-released Soul Retrieval is the album we have been waiting for. The record features an abundance of Larkin’s strengths — her rich voice and the mystical nature that makes her so compelling. At Rock Shop on Thursday, Larkin Grimm celebrated the CD’s release with a special hometown show. She opened the show with two solo songs before being joined by her band. The trio worked through much of the new album, a couple of older songs, and then were joined by the entire Cuddle Magic band for the final two numbers. The show ended with the opening track from the album “Paradise and So Many Colors”, a terrific ensemble version that we’re streaming below.

I recorded this set with the Neumann microphones positioned in front of the soundboard, and mixed with an excellent board feed. The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Stream “Paradise and So Many Colors”:

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Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Live music in 2011 saw several newer bands consolidate their hold on greatness, while well-established acts from the 90s brought out crowds for reunion shows and, sadly, farewells. For those of us at the site, we were inspired by crowds of people who were, in a lot of cases, younger than we were checking out bands like Archers of Loaf live for the first time, or finally gaining appreciation for the work of artists like Cass McCombs and Bill Callahan. At the same time, favorite new or new-er bands like Widowspeak, The War on Drugs, White Fence and Mr. Dream, each of whom we saw multiple times, saw their fanbases grow quickly. If you heard their music for the first time on this site, and liked it enough to give them a look for yourself, well, we are all the more honored and grateful.

With four tapers contributing recordings to the site on a regular basis, picking the “best” 25 moments of an entire year is practically impossible. Looking back on another great year for the site, though, each of these particular moments from a show we recorded stands out in some particular way (though they are in particular order). A complete seamless mix is available for download below, plus streaming selections of each. We hope you enjoy our picks, and look forward to sharing more great artist-approved recordings in 2012.

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Well-publicized changes in the personal lives of Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, the reigning king and queen of indie rock for the past two decades, may mean that Sonic Youth‘s performance at the Williamsburg Waterfront in August was their last NYC show. We hope that’s not the case. But if it is, wow, this band went out in as massive a style as possible, delivering a set full of rarities with the energy of 18-year-old punks instead of “elder” statesmen. The night closed with the apocalyptic noise squall of “Inhuman”, an at-times brutal piece of music that highlighted Sonic Youth’s roots as an art-punk noise band. While it is probably the worst quality recording of anything in this top 25, this blowout show closer, with its blasts of feedback, was easily one of the most memorable. Maybe there was something even more personal in those screams and feedback than we realized at the time.

2. The War on Drugs – “Arms Like Boulders” ( Bowery Ballroom, January 8 )

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The War on Drugs were a band we unabashedly fell in love with this year. An act that we first saw as an opening band, and who we saw in a huge range of venues this year (from Cameo Gallery to Webster Hall), these guys have earned their acclaim the old-fashioned way. First, their 2011 album Slave Ambient was an instant classic, a Dylanesque masterpiece. Second, they played a flat-out great live show, and they just kept getting better as the year went on. We chose this recording from the Bowery Ballroom because, well, it’s Bowery, and that place always sounds amazing.

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Although Deerhunter and Atlas Sound had appeared on this site several times, I (not speaking for the others from the site) counted myself as a Bradford Cox skeptic. That is, until Bradford and the band led off this show at Webster Hall with this song. The band’s sound became a living alien beast, breathing and hissing as the stage was bathed in an eerie green glow. The effect was aurally and visually arresting, and the show didn’t slow down a bit from there. I count myself a believer now.

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The American songwriter Cass McCombs is a critical darling, and has been since his first releases early last decade. Humor Risk, his new release on Domino Records, seems like the record that will make Cass a favorite with fans as well as critics. We know for sure that he sold out this show at Bowery quite handily, and Wit’s End has made an appearance on many a year-end list. This song, in particular, is a highlight, and this beautiful recording is a nearly flawless capture of Cass at his best.

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The Psychic Paramount provided me with one of those classic moments where an opening band completely overshadows the headliner, and wins a ton of new fans in the process. I caught the band this summer at Union Pool after reading some positive notice for their latest record, II. The album is an excellent work of psychedelic instrumental rock, but the live show – with the band shrouded in a stream of thick smoke, shredding on their guitars – took the experience to the next level.

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The latest addition to our team, hi and lo, is a longtime Smashing Pumpkins taper who has crisscrossed the country covering the band. This was another act that I admittedly had somewhat given up on after their late-90s release Machina failed to ignite. Once again I was more than happy to be proven wrong, and reminded of the original greatness of this band. hi and lo invited the entire crew to this show, and it was one of the best we saw this year – a powerfully delivered, rocking performance that rivaled this band at their stadium rock peak in the mid-90s. The Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness track “Muzzle” – slightly lesser known but one of that album’s best – was a highlight in a show that was filled with them.

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Low are a longstanding band who recently proved that they may yet hit their critical peak. Their 2011 release, C’mon, was outstanding – an artistic triumph, and one of their best since their inception in 1993. This show, as I put it then, demonstrated the value of speaking softly, as the band delivered a set of understated grace and majesty. The song “Witches”, with its somber guitar riff, is one of my favorite on the new record, and was one of the highlights of the night.

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Johnny Fried Chicken Boy went to see “Nobody’s Darlings” booked as the late show at Mercury Lounge knowing full well that who this mystery band would be. Taking a pause from their stint on the Warped Tour, Lucero rocked an appreciative and typically rowdy weekend Mercury crowd with a 100-minute, free-ranging set. This is the kind of band that defines live rock n’ roll – great players who sound natural, relaxed and like they’re having as good a time as you are. Since first seeing this band as an opener for The Black Keys back in 2009, we have watched their star continue to rise. With a headlining show coming up the day before New Year’s Eve at Brooklyn Bowl, you can be sure Lucero has plenty left in the tank for this year.

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I wrote what I thought was my best review that year on my iPhone during the first run-through of this song I heard the night before – so inspired by what I was seeing and hearing I had to capture my thoughts that instant. Of the show, I said in part: “GYBE are an unabashedly political band, and their music, as well as the intense visuals that their live performances soundtrack, are political in a mostly-abstract way. The visuals are mash-ups that evoke the world’s extremes; majesty and beauty in the midst of nascent dread. Here you see the fires of smoldering factories soundtracked by a plaintive surge of sound, where the sound of even the lowly triangle can take on menace. But there is beauty there, as there is in an unmolested glen; in a snippet of a nostalgic ramble that is both endearing and creepy. During the two and a half hour opus that was this phenomenal return to Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple … we were reminded that out of each paroxysm of suffering and bout of anxiety, there remains the zeal and fervor of hope.”

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Our original goal for this post was not to repeat any bands that made the list last year, but Yo La Tengo deliver something so special at every show, it was impossible to ignore this once-in-a-lifetime happening. Musicians across New York and the United States were moved to help their brethren in Japan after the terrible damage wrought by the tsunami and subsequent nuclear reactor meltdowns. Yo La Tengo did their part by throwing this very special benefit show at their homebase venue of Maxwell’s, with all proceeds going to Peace Winds Japan. David Byrne appeared with the band and performed a special rendition of this Talking Heads classic. A direct donation to Peace Winds Japan was required to be able to download this set, and through those donations, we have raised over $5,000 for the organization to date.

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Pitchfork may have ultimately handed the #1 spot on their year-end best-of to Bon Iver, but I called it back in April that Destroyer’s Kaputt would be close. A weird, wonderful album that resurrected the saxophone for new generation of rock fans, as I put it back then, “…Bejar’s music is almost radically foreign to what else is going on in American music today. Which is to say, Kaputtisn’t really dance music, nor can it be considered “rock” of most common varieties, and neither is it some fist-pumping, amped-up hybrid of the two. Bejar’s edges are soft, his choruses delivered on a silky train of trumpet and sax trills in a moderate, almost diffident tone. If the common mode for today’s bands is a marriage of post-punk and hard dance music, 2011’s Destroyer could be, well, “indie rock and smooth jazz…” This live show at Webster Hall was a hotly anticipated one this year, and Bejar nailed it.

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The Antlers continued their rise in the ranks of local bands this year with the release of their new album, Burst Apart. We were fortunate enough to catch a very special secret show at The Knitting Factory sponsored by BrooklynVegan, at which the band played the entire new album for a group of hardcore fans. This was the first time we had heard a number of these songs live, and it was evident from the start that Burst Apart was a huge creative leap forward for the band.

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It was absolutely freezing out when I went to see Wye Oak, performing a special invite-only show after opening for The Decemberists the night before. The band was on the cusp of releasing Civilian, an album destined for many best-of lists, and they were surrounded by friends and family to debut many of its songs live. The intimate jewel box of Rock Shop was the perfect place to do it, feeling like our personal living room as we watched the duo play. After going through the experience of being an opening act at the Beacon Theatre the night before, I’m sure it felt like a sort of homecoming for the Baltimore natives.

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Our first exposure to White Fence came as they opened for Woods at Bowery Ballroom, on a night when the NYCTaper crew decided to team up and use a combination of our finest equipment. Not only is our capture one of our best recordings of the year, but this new “band” (basically the solo artist Tim Presley, with members of Woods and drummer Nick Murray as his backing band) blew us away with its catchy garage-psych tunes.

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Our friends at the Backyard Brunch Sessions held another successful summer season of intimate outdoor shows. Not only did they give the NYCTaper team the chance to show off what we can do recording-wise, but they introduced us to some fantastic new talent. Of all the acts hosted at the BBS this summer, Family Band was probably my single favorite. Lead by the husband and wife team of Jonny Olsin and Kim Krans, the band played a mesmerizing set on this sweltering midsummer afternoon. They call their music “death prom,” and indeed, it is downbeat, but its pastoral quality is one of its greatest strengths, well earned in the band’s upstate Catskills recording location.

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Blitzen Trapper were out east from Portland for a live appearance on Letterman, and decided to grace their big fans with a Maxwell’s show while they were at it. The tight, energetic and totally fired-up crowd lapped up the 25-song set, which culminated with a ripping cover of “Good Times Bad Times” by the mighty Led Zeppelin.

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Bill Callahan is an uncanny musician – with songwriting chops, unique phrasing and a distinctly American style that is both timeless and timely. His new record Apocalypse is but one of a long run of critical and fan favorites from the songwriter, who recorded during most of the 90s under the moniker Smog. This show found Callahan combining a set heavy on new material with some of his earlier favorites. Callahan and his band performed a rich set that found some numbers stretching into lengthy instrumental meditations, and none so much as this nearly 10-minute rendition of “Say Valley Maker” from his 2010 effort, Rough Travel for a Rare Thing.

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Four years to the day that the site first covered The Hold Steady, we caught them again at an outdoor show that took full advantage of Craig Finn’s barroom-friendly tunes. We saw the Hold Steady twice this year, and both times the band continued to capture the magic they’ve had since their inception. Finn slows no sign of slowing down – or selling out.

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In some ways, it’s appropriate that Fucked Up would follow The Hold Steady on this list – both are known for raucous, exceptionally fun live shows. Fucked Up is my one repeat choice from last year, and the reason I chose them again is simple: Once again, they have transcended the confines of their ostensibly “punk” roots to deliver an album of exceptional complexity and bravado. This show at Warsaw was a complete run-through of that album, David Comes to Life, and this song, with its dueling guitars, was one of the highlights.

21. Tristen – “Doomsday” (NYCTaper CMJ Day Party at Cake Shop, October 21)

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For the last several years, NYCTaper has thrown an unofficial “day party” during the CMJ Music Festival – an opportunity for us to get drunk throw a concert for artists we appreciate and make some damn fine recordings, too. Tristen released a new record this year, earned lots of good reviews, but hadn’t really hit the NYC scene very hard, despite the immediate accessibility of her country-tinged indie-folk. Several people thanked us for urging them not to miss her set at our show at Cake Shop. But if you did, here’s a second chance – don’t miss Tristen.

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Glasslands was my most common haunt this year for a couple of obvious reasons – the semi-DIY Williamsburg venue and its partnership with PopGun Booking continue to bring in some of the best up-and-coming talent in this city in an artful, relaxed environment – and it sounds great most nights, thanks to current house engineer Josh Thiel. As to Jessica Lea Mayfield, we’ve caught her in fancier environs like Bowery, but this intimate, packed and sold-out show was the best of hers that we’ve seen. It was hard to pick a single favorite of the many revelatory shows I saw at Glasslands, but this one is certainly in my top few.

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Archers of Loaf had been gone long enough at this point that some original fans had forgotten to even miss them. Well, that’s OK – there were plenty of new ones to take their place at this show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Screaming out for songs they’d never heard live, singing along with lyrics, plenty of new fans showed up for this gig. Plenty of veterans did, too – after reliving this band’s greatness on records like Vee Vee and Icky Mettle. Frontman Eric Bachmann hasn’t stopped making music (he’s Crooked Fingers more often these days), and it showed in his instant poise once back together with his old bandmates. This slow burner was one of many memorable moments of a night that made us hope Archers of Loaf would stick around awhile.

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The NYCTaper crew contributed this recording as an official release that is for sale on the Guided by Voices website. In case you were wondering, we weren’t paid for doing it – our goal was only to make the definitive recording of this legendary band. “Definitive” or not, I think this one is very good – and a perfect representation of the highlight show of this year’s Northside Festival.

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Appropriately, our year-end compilation ends with John Darnielle and guest Craig Finn singing the perfect sendoff to 2011. “I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me” could mean a lot of things, but for us, we’re fortunate that we were able to continue to do what we love doing as a hobby, without financial support, and to – yeah – be able to continue to treat this thing that we do as a hobby rather than a job. Bands like the Mountain Goats, and their consistently surprising, fan-friendly performances are a big part of what makes this site worth doing. The other part is of course you, our readers. Happy New Year!

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Special thanks to all of the artists, management, labels, photographers and other music sites that have supported NYCTaper this year. And of course, a huge thank you to our readers, who we hope to continue to provide with high-quality, artist-sanctioned recordings, reviews and photos throughout 2012. Happy New Year!

A John Vanderslice concert is always an authentic communal experience. John often spends time to talk directly and candidly to the audience and performs his very personal songs in a manner to which his fans can relate. That is to say that he’s a performer without an ounce of pretense. On Friday night at packed Rock Shop, John added another dimension to the fan-friendly atmosphere — inviting them up on stage to perform. The pre-tour mailing list email promised that any fan with a talent could volunteer to perform, and in each city John has had several takers. While the Brooklyn show had four of them, in reality each of the performers were not strictly “fans”, but included Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, and the vocalist Melodie Knight from Damien Jurado’s opening set. The added bonus for this night was a “vision” that Rock Shop manager/booker Skippy had told John at SXSW. After the main set, John took the entire audience up to the roof deck of the venue and performed a four-song encore while circled by a fully participating audience. The result was a very memorable experience for Vanderslice fans from a performer who continues to provide meaningful gifts to the faithful.

I recorded the main set in the venue with our standard set-up — the DPA microphones mixed with a stellar feed from the board. For the roof deck encores, I unplugged from the board, and carried the mounted microphones with the recorder strapped over my shoulder. The main room sound quality is superb, while the roof deck is exactly what we experienced. Enjoy!

Stream “Exodus Damage”:

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This Recording is now available for Download in FLAC and MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].

Things seem to be going well for Philly’s Jukebox the Ghost – not long after they booked this show at the intimate Rock Shop as the support act for tourmates Wakey Wakey!, they found themselves at the top of the bill at Bowery Ballroom the following night. It isn’t terribly surprising: Since their founding in their present incarnation in 2005, the band has toured extensively behind big name, accessible pop-rock acts like Ben Folds and Barenaked Ladies and released two strong albums, their 2008 debut, Let Live and Let Ghosts, and its 2010 followup, Everything Under the Sun, and in that time, they have made a name for themselves as a bouncy, fun and consistent pop act. Much like Ben Folds Five, their music revolves around classically-trained keyboardist/vocalist Ben Thornewill’s upbeat piano melodies and the sugar-sweet vocal harmony of lead vocalists Tommy Siegel and Thornewill. Songs like “Empire” are reminders of the power of a perfect pop song; JTG are neither angst-ridden nor ironic, nor even particularly earnest – their pop is served without pretension or anxiety. I heard several people in the crowd, who didn’t know the band at all, talking about how much they enjoyed the show – and how could you not? Jukebox the Ghost are pros, ladies and gentlemen, and they have the power to deliver a nice injection of optimism into a jaded city crowd. All that said, it’s hard to deny the highlight of the show – an only-somewhat-ironic cover, a mean version of Huey Lewis & the News’ “Power of Love”, the theme song from Back to the Future (with a little jam of the theme from Ghostbusters in there – it was an 80s kind of night, I guess).

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Jukebox the Ghost, visit their website, and purchase Everything Under the Sun and their other official releases from the Yep Roc Records store [HERE]

A lot can be learned about Brooklyn’s Wakey Wakey! by considering the following anecdote from last Wednesday’s show at Rock Shop. It was the third song in their headlining set, following an outstanding set from tourmates Jukebox the Ghost. Keyboardist/vocalist/frontman Mike Grubbs dismisses the band from the stage and launches into a quiet solo number. As he sings the first line, peals of laughter erupt – he is covering Madonna’s Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” But what is more surprising and refreshing about this tour staple is the fact that Mike completely transforms the song, finding a sad, wistful undercurrent to what has to be one of the most bouncy, ridiculous songs of the 1980s. Plus, he just sings the hell out of it. With folk/pop music like this that can at times veer into melancholy territory, that very lack of self-seriousness, and the willingness to have fun, are essential ingredients. This set – a homecoming for the band after a long tour – was strong throughout, with Grubbs and his bandmates on-point musically and loose with the crowd, having fun with this intimate group before their big night at Bowery Ballroom the following evening. This show was so intimate, in fact, that one couple got a chance to talk to Mike about how they got engaged just before the show!

I recorded this set from our usual location in the venue with the DPA microphones and an outstanding soundboard feed from the house engineer, Shane. The quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Stream “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun [Cyndi Lauper]”:

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Stream “War Sweater”:

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Judging by the gig I saw this night at The Rock Shop, it’s no wonder that Brooklyn-based The Forms are sharing stages with some of indie rock’s best acts and garnering quite a bit of attention. Beginning their show by walking through the crowd with a steel drum and accordion and playing a very unique take on their song, “Knowledge In Hand”, Alex Tween and Matt Walsh treated us to a brilliant set of their intricate rhythms and melodies. Being the release show for their ‘Derealization‘ disc, they played half of its tracks, a few from previous albums and even some yet-to-be-released nuggets. With a sound and structure that defies most genres, I suggest that you check these guys out and keep your eye on them.

Thanks to The Forms engineer Jeff Stultz and the house engineer, Shane, we were able to get a feed from the board to compliment our microphones. With this top-notch mix, the resulting recording is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Finally”:

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Direct download of the complete show in MP3 [HERE]
Direct download of the complete show in FLAC [HERE]

If either of the links are no longer working, email nyctaperwith a request for the download location of the files.

We had the pleasure of seeing Nada Surf play two very different types of special shows in 2010. First, there was their The Weight Is A Gift full-album runthrough that we recorded at the Bell House in March. And, at the end of the year, this very special not-quite-acoustic show at The Rock Shop to benefit Little Kids Rock, a worthy charity that provides free musical instruments and music instruction to public schools. True to form, the 90s veterans were relaxed and cheerful as they played to an enthusiastic group of fans jammed into The Rock Shop’s jewel box of a showroom. The show ended up being “not-quite” acoustic as the band opted for electric guitars in some cases due to problems with their acoustics, but the arrangements still reflected the more intimate nature of this show. Joined by Doug Gillard of Guided By Voices, the stripped-down arrangements suited the band, bringing frontman Matthew Caws’ sweet, distinctive vocals to the forefront, especially his knack for delivering a hooky chorus (for example, on this outstanding rendition of “Blonde on Blonde”).

I admit that I sometimes have to remind myself that Nada Surf is a New York band, so preternaturally sunny is their sound. But that is part of the beauty of this band, whose staying power has resulted from talent and songwriting rather than trend-mining. The band’s airy demeanor also proved to be an excellent antidote to both the freezing weather and the nascent depression of the holiday season. These well-crafted, approachable songs may seem better suited to a road trip singalong than to a tiny bar in Gowanus in midwinter, sure – but they felt damn good on this night.

Watch for a new record from Nada Surf in 2011, which will follow their 2010 cover album, If I Had A Hi-Fi.

I recorded this set from our usual spot at Rock Shop with a soundboard feed and the DPA microphones. The results are outstanding. Enjoy!

Stream “Blonde on Blonde”:

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Stream “Electrocution”:

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